The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1887-01-28
HARTFORD CaUNTY'G REVOLUTIONA
RY RECORD.
Mostly from Orig inal Documents.
BY G. W. ARCHER.
EXPLASATORY.


from all tn counties. met at ANNAPOLIS. - 1
June. and sat only three days. Although it en-
braced many eminent men, little seems to have
been done in that short time beyond the adop-
ton of resolutions Substantially identical with
those passed at the Hartford meeting eleven days
before. tn convention, however, appointed
i've illustrlous men as deeV ites to the general
Congress TO meet on the 9Th September. 1t Is
prcsumable that the provincial body transacted
only such business as was absolutely necessary,
and curtailrd its session to await the action OF
Congress whose meeting was so near at hand
hoping 10 profit by the proceedings of the latter
body, embracing as it did the best and wisesl
men OF the several colonies. Be that as 1t may,
the Convention again met on the list ~ Noven-
per, soon after the adj iurnment OF Congress
but as some of the counties had not by that time
sent delegates, IL adjourned until the Sth of the
following month, having unanimously approved
OF the proceedings of Congress.
Unfortunately one or more OF the first leaves
of the archives published 1876 were missing; nor
are they supplied by any of those now in the
Clerks Office. Hence it is impossible to say with
certainty when the very first Committee of OBJ
servaton was appointed Tor elected and invest
cd with its Important powers. lnasmuch, how
ever, as II must have been brought into exist
ence by the provincial convention, either by di-
rect appointment. or by ordering its election by
the people, This could have been done only dur
ing one Of the two shot sessions OF that body
the session, namely, of the 22d June, or that of
the 2lst November; for the archives printed ten
years ago show that such committee existed
prior to the third meeting of the convention,
which occurred on the Sth Decemb r.
FROM first TO last-that Is during little more
than two years from the autumn Of l17i-there
were four Committees of Observation, chosen at
very irregular iutervals-ihe number of mem
bers varying from eighteen to eighty. They
were chosen by the freemen Of the county,
either by an election held in each Hundred. or
by mass-mecting at Harf I'd Town The quail
hcations OF the voters on these occasions were
probably the same as are given below in the
election OF members of the convention. They
occasionally chose from their own members
Committee of Correspondence Whose special
province IL was to communicate with Congress,
with the convention. or with the revolutionary
hHr 81
mitlee for licensing suits the latter much
more important body than its name would at
FIRST giauce imply since it superseded, in great
measure. the authority of the courts of justice
1t may be safely inferred from the above facts
That The Committee of Obseryat on, as regards
the mode Of its formation and its term of office
was ra her cratic body. Tue only regular
fcat ure about IL seems To have been the appoint
ment OF its own members to important civil po-
sltions. II Is quite likely, however, thai the
terms and conditions of its original orxanlza' ion
required this. And, indeed, what could be mure
reasonable than that men Just chosen by tine
people and thus endorsed with III ir confidence,
should select each other to carry out imperative
measures, in preference t. selecting persons not
so endorsed De>pue however, this smack ng
OF cl se-Corporatl on policy, the sturdy patrI-
ots-as we shall see further on--di not spare
each other when charges were lodged by out
siders.
During the existence of the county committee
there werr, as well as can make IL out, six
conventions of the Province, which, in their pc
Rod of incumbency and mode of appointment
seem o have been, IL possible, more irregular
even than the committee-the de egates being
chosen yariously by mass meeting, by the local
committee, by each Hundred, or by the free
men of the county, and their term varying from
two months to one year. The only peculiar
qualification required of voters was the same as
That requ red for membership; namely, the pos
session Of $40 sterling, or fifty acres of land On
the day of its complete organization the conven.
ton, by virtue solely OF the popular will which
II represented, quietly assume legislative, exec
utiye and judicial control of the entire Province,
and retained 1t until February III, when the
new constitutional Govcrnment-sub
the same as at present-went into operation.
AS many OF tho records of the Local committee
are sill missing, 1t Is quite possible that If all
any OF them SHOULD be brou hit to light, some of
the foregoing statements and conclusions will
mittee of Safety, which l have never SEEM
would, no doubt, throw much light upon the
history of our county.
As the convention could not, without great eX-
pcnse aud Inconvenience remain constantly IN
session, 1t appointed from its own members,
previous to each adjournment. Council Of
during the entire recess. To this body first
composed of five members from the Western,
and four from the East'rn, Shore, and subse-
quently of eight from each shore, were deeg4 tied,
after due INSTRUCT ms were given it, all the
powers Of the convention self-subject, how
ever, to the latters revision.
The Committee of Observation was invested
with authority little inferior, except in extent
of territory, to that of the convention, or the
Committee Of Safety Thus Maryland had fairly
entered upon the transition state between the
old and the new governments. Each meeting of
the convention enGCd at once the authority of
the Committee of Safety but that of the local
Committee was perennial, as well as practically
supreme. For there is not an instance among
all the revolutionary documents yet found
where the Hartford county committees pro-
ceedings were unfavordbly reviewed by lhe SUI
perior body. All who presumed to oppose or
disoOey Its orders were ci ed TO appear drought
by force II necessary, judged on such evidence
as was offered, and the judgments published by
hand6I or Word Of mouth at al the rGs ana
those days. Persons so branded became, from
that moment, objects of public contempt and
averslon-a far more effective punishment than
physical torture. Meanwhile the old govern
ment was carried on uninterruptedly, whenever
1t did not conflict with the new. But in all in
the older authority went down without a strug
gle. though 10 many instances not without
gr ans from officials long hampered, and some
of them moral, debauchrd by the seductive
fruits OF royal privileges and proprietary rights
purpose giving all these papers except a few
which are of such a character that two or three
of them will give very good idea Of the whole
class in the case, for example, of individual pc
titon asking relief of the COMMITTEE for Id
censing Suits" Nor need apologize for so do
ing; for these scattered remains OF struggling
patriotism, together with those ga hertd up ten
years since, and sucn of the still missing ones as
may yet he loud, are almost the only source of
Information whence We eau ever hope to get the
details of the character, condition, and SIP rit OF
the people of the county during more than two
years OF the most eventIul era of its existence
And the amount uf information we may gather
from cluse study Of such documents is sur
pttsluB us II sctils bn u CuIsbFy peru
sal For example, on first reading these, L re-
jected fully one halt as too trivial for pub lea
ton; on second perusa about one-hf.h, and on
a third, not one-tent h of the whole. Nor am
at all ure that single one OF them should be
Withheld. On each reading one sees more ami
more-between the lines, as IL were. II is GER
iainly matter for regret that those printed in
1876 were at ali abridged. Those now presented
will be- arranged in the order OF their dates, ex-
cept when the grouping of certain related events
may contribute 10 their eluciialion. In the
main, such proceedings only as are missing from
the previous publication are given mere, and
this course will be pursued throughout-two
stars being useI to indicate, in many Instances